Treat EVERYONE Kindly

C.S. LEWIS Excerpt from Mere Christianity-

'Consequently, though Christian charity sounds a very cold thing to people whose heads are full of sentimentality, and though it is quite distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection. The difference between a Christian and a worldly man is NOT that the worldly man has only affections or 'likings' and the Christian has only `charity'.

The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he 'likes' them: the Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on -- including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.'


Christian Love- TREATING EVERYONE KINDLY.

Luk 6:27  But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Luk 6:28  Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Luk 6:29  And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
Luk 6:30  Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
Luk 6:31  And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Luk 6:32  For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
Luk 6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
Luk 6:34  And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
Luk 6:35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.


We are not being told to love our friends.
We are not being told to love our family.
We are not being told to bless those who bless us.
We are not being told to do good to those who do good to us.
We are not being told to pray for those who are praying for us and treating us kindly.
We are not being told to give to those who are giving to us.
We are not being told to give to those who have lots.
We are not being told to love all those who love us.
We are not being told to only lend to those who can give back to us.

Why aren't we being told these things? Because a lot of them are what we call- 'a given'.  It's rather easy to love friends and to love - loving family members. We have no trouble at all wanting to bless those who are good to us. And giving to those who give to us, that's easy, right? Love those who love us, easy!

We are being told that Christian love is far more than what people want to be love is.

LOVE your ENEMIES.
Do good to those who HATE you.
Bless those who CURSE you.
PRAY for those who are despitefully using you.
To those who hit one side of your face, OFFER the other side.
To those who steal from you, OFFER them more!
Give to EVERYONE that asks!
Do NOT ask for others to return your things.

Did you just read what I wrote?

Read it again, please.

Do we grow up learning to respond in this way to others?

Does our society endorse this sort of behavior?

Where have we learned to Hate those who Hate us?
To do bad things to those who hate us?
To curse those who curse us?
To despise those who are using us despitefully?
To hit back when we are hit?
To be angry at someone who steals from us and demand they give our things back?
To NOT give, but rather keep your own possessions- hoarding them, they are YOURS, you bought them or were given them?
To be mad at anyone who borrows your things and does not return them?

Where have we learned that all that is proper behavior?
Where have we learned that we are justified in responding this way?

FROM THE WORLD and the PRINCE of THIS WORLD.

Satan has taught mankind well to think of self first and foremost and the world has learned so well his awful lessons.

We love believing we are JUSTIFIED when we act against others badly.  Our anger is justified, our hate is justified. We tell ourselves that we are only acting in a normal and acceptable manner, so it's fine to behave 'normally'.  Only normally means SATAN'S NORMAL, not GOD'S!

'The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he 'likes' them: the Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on -- including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.'

C.S. LEWIS Excerpt from Mere Christianity

The CHRISTIAN tries to TREAT EVERYONE KINDLY.

EVERYONE meaning- EVERYONE, NO EXCEPTIONS!

We love our exceptions. We love to put a limit on our kindness.  We do!  When someone is evil to us, we love being able to tell ourselves it perfectly fine for us to return that same evil back a them- they started it!  Be kind to someone who was nasty to us? NEVER! They really can't expect us to be kind to them when they are not kind to us, right?

CHRISTIAN LOVE- TREATS EVERYONE KINDLY- NO EXCEPTIONS!

NO EXCEPTIONS!

When you try to make exceptions for reasons that you can justify perfectly to the world and all who will listen,  you have to realize that YOU CAN NEVER JUSTIFY THEM TO GOD! God tells us there are NO EXCEPTIONS to our treating EVERYONE KINDLY, NOT ONE!

Please LORD help us!

We've been conditioned by the world to behave as Satan would have us behave- telling us that is NORMAL behavior, acceptable behavior. YOUR TRUTH says otherwise! Please LORD bless us, TEACH us, work in  us! Let YOUR LOVE be OUR LOVE!  We would TREAT EVERYONE KINDLY, and it's only through YOUR GRACE and MERCY, YOUR POWER, YOUR AMAZING LOVE that this is at all possible!

Please LORD forgive us!

Help us to see under the skin and past all that would keep us from truly loving others

'But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.'  Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis

Doing good to another SELF.
Another self.
We truly are all cut from the same cloth. Or if you'd rather, we are all cookies cut out of the same dough. There are any number of analogies you could use and while some will be quick- very quick- to point out that we can't be from the same cloth or same dough because we are invariably very different- that is ONLY on the outside. Inside we are all the same. The STUFF that keeps us alive that is ALL the same stuff.  Strip off our outer shells and guess what? WE ARE THE SAME. Ask any medical examiner about how much alike we are on the inside. Sure there are variations of the same stuff but in minor ways. Your brain might weigh 3.5 lbs mine might weigh 3.4 lbs, but you can bet our brains look mostly the same. Maybe there is a slight discoloration difference but over all we look the same.  Put two, three, four, five brains on a table and try to tell which one of those came from what color people.  Put the same amount of hearts on the table and choose the one that came from Caucasian persuasion. You CAN'T DO IT! Take blood from two people and tell me which came from a Caucasian and which from an Latino.  YOU CAN'T DO IT!

We might be dressed up in different skin but we are all MADE BY GOD and a SELF unto itself.

The brain in your head might not think my same thoughts but the base needs will be the exact. You'll hunger and desire food, you'll thirst and desire drink, you'll be cold and desire warmth, you'll long for happiness, contentment and you'll strive for such things.  You won't want to be in pain, no one without emotional, mental defects wants to be in pain.  These are basic to all of us human beings.

C.S. Lewis says- 'Whenever we do good to another self- JUST because it is a self, made (like us) by God desiring its own happiness as we desire ours…'

Doing good to another self JUST BECAUSE IT IS A SELF.
Doing good to one another because we are part of one another.
Doing good to a fellow human being simply because they are fellow human being.

NOT doing good to others because we have some ulterior motive, some selfish desire, something to gain out of it, but doing that good because we recognize that WE would want that good done to us if we were in the same position as the other human being, this is good, this is CHRISTIAN LOVE.

'But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.'  Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis

We shall have learned to love others a little more every time we do for it as we would want done to us- or maybe if we aren't learning to LOVE them, we are at least (as he said) learning to dislike it less.

Do you suppose you could take someone you've a natural dislike for and vow to treat them good in some small way EVERYTIME you see them, and continue to dislike them?  Probably. But there again we are NOT supposed to be looking for ways to LIKE people, to have affection for them. We are supposed to be revealing CHRISTIAN LOVE.  A LOVE that genuinely cares for them because GOD cares for them.

We need to tell ourselves as we are out and about our daily lives interacting with others however briefly or lengthy that GOD LOVES THIS PERSON, THESE PEOPLE.  GOD LOVES them sooooo much He sent His Only Son to DIE for them!  God did that! He never asked us to judge a person's eternal life, never! He doesn't want us looking at others and writing them off as being lost to Him simply because they are committing atrocities we can't even comprehend. God wants us to LOVE them and leave all the eternal life judging to HIM.

So when we are experiencing first hand abuse at the hands of one God Loves, how are we to react?

Mat 5:39  ... whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Do we do this?!

How many of you just said, 'Heck no!'?

It's not natural to us. We haven't cultivated this reaction in ourselves. We haven't let God work in us in this way just yet. Satan wants us to never react this way and he will do all he can to make it so we never do. It's a striving, it's an ACT OF WILL, a deliberate choice we must make, not give in to knee jerk reactions.

God would have us love others because we are basically all the same in His eyes.  The ugliest person in the entire world is still offered salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. The most beautiful person is offered salvation as well. The nicest, the worst, the greediest, the most selfless, the shyest, the most outgoing- it doesn't matter to God, salvation is a GIFT offered to all.

 IF you are a follower of Christ then you have to believe that we are all offered salvation. If you believe we are all offered salvation then you have to realize that there isn't a single other person in existence who is different in matters of eternity. 

Under our skin the real truth exists.

Every Jew, every Protestant, every Catholic, every Moslem, every Hindu, every follower of the many, many different religions, every Pagan, every Atheist is ultimately the same under their skin.

We are the same flesh and blood.
We are the same bone and muscle.
We are the same.

My thoughts, my choices define who I am. My beliefs shape my views about life.  But laying ALL those thoughts, choices, beliefs aside and just lay me skinned on a slab of metal next to another skinned on a slab of metal and you would never know what I believe, you would never know what I looked like with flesh.  We are the same and GOD knows this!

God also knows that it is our choices, our beliefs, our views that enable us to choose to believe in HIM and HIS love, or not. We've been given this wonderful ability to make choices so we are not automatons acting under the control of another.  We have to allow everyone to make the choice to believe how they are convicted to believe. If we try and force anyone to believe the way we do, then we are taking away their ability to choose freely.

God would NEVER take away the choice we have to freely make.

God is love.

And love ONLY can come from GOD, without God there is NO real love, but rather a substitute love of a worldly kind that believes it is real when it is not.

God is love and all else, all false love is not of God but rather of the one who would put himself in God's place, setting up his own counterfeit love- very realistic so much so it will fool MANY, in fact MOST.

God is love and He would have us believe in HIM, but He will not force that belief.

He has outlined the entire conflict between good and evil in His Holy Word and people will make a choice either for Him and His love, or against Him and His love.

He would have all choose to love HIM, every single human being.

We can desire nothing less if we choose to be His.
In choosing to be God's we are choosing to desire the salvation of every single human being, letting NOTHING cloud that.

Please LORD, help us to LOVE as YOU love!

Help us to see under the skin, past all that makes it hard for us to truly love one another with Christian love, and to do as YOU command.

All through YOUR LOVE, YOUR amazing, wonderful LOVE.

In Christ Jesus Always! By His grace and mercy, in His righteousness, by YOUR WILL.

Christian Love- God's Will Being Done, Not Ours

"The Proof Of Your Love"
by For King and Country

If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise
If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

If I give
To a needy soul but don't have love then who is poor?
It seems all the poverty is found in me

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
Oh, let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

When it's all said and done
When we sing our final song
Only love remains
Only love remains

Let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

Pasted from

*******

Love is sacrifice.

True or untrue?

Do we really equate love with sacrifice?  If I tell you that loving someone really means sacrificing your own selfishness for their good, would that sound pleasant to you? 

We really want love to mean that selfishly we are made to feel good by being with another. This is why when another comes along that is a little bit better at making us feel good it is so easy to choose to be with them and not someone who doesn't make us feel quite so good anymore.  We reason with ourselves that we'd much rather be with someone who strokes our egos and builds up our pride than another who reminds us we are not all that and we are in need of becoming selfless. Our selfishness wars against our becoming selfless, sometimes at great cost.

The song lyrics above talk of our loving being like Christ's love- love being a sacrifice as Christ's life revealed. He lived sacrificing of Himself and He died sacrificing Himself.

It is very true that if we do all manner of good and don't do it with LOVE - CHRIST'S LOVE- it means nothing.

1Co 13:3  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Imagine- giving up everything you own to help the poor and it PROFITS NOTHING because the giving was done selfishly, the giving was done in order to obtain something in return. The giving was done begrudingly. The giving was done without any of CHRIST'S LOVE.

Imagine- sacrificing your own life, giving up your life to be burned alive and you do it selfishly hoping that act will gain you salvation, it is done in VAIN without CHRIST'S LOVE. Even giving up your own life will mean NOTHING without CHRISTIAN LOVE.

Psa_51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Rom_12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

1Pe_2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Love is truly sacrifice and sacrifice is surrender. 

There isn't a single thing we can do to warrant salvation.
Salvation is found in Christ alone because HE alone is LOVE and all love truly means.
We can only hope and pray that in our choice we choose to surrender to CHRIST to allow HIM to work in us, to live in us, to reveal His love through us. That every act of kindness, every act we commit towards others is an act that will reveal HIS LOVE, HIS POWER alive in US. CHRIST IN US.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus

Christian love.
A love of purpose.
An act of our will.
A conscious choice we make.

Christ prayed for the cup to be passed from Him.

Mat_26:39  And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

He did NOT want to suffer!
He made a conscious act of will choosing to do whatever His Father willed of Him. Not as HE WILLED but as HIS FATHER WILLED. 
Not as WE WILL, but AS GOD WILLS.
NOT OUR WILL BUT GOD'S WILL.

Christian Love.
Love revealing Christ.

All by the grace and mercy, the LOVE of CHRIST!
IN HIM ALWAYS!

Loved by Christian Love- 4 Strangers

Mat 19:19  Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Lev 19:18  Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Rom 13:9  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Gal 5:14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself

Jas 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

I experienced this notably THREE times today. I say notably three times because in all actuality it was probably a lot more but these three times really stand out.

1st-  At the theme park today a woman worker there came up to my family out of the blue and asked if we wanted her to take our picture. Now before you say, 'That's not unusual'  it was unusual because the woman wasn't one of those theme park employees who get paid to take your picture and get you to buy those pictures before you leave the park. She held her hands out to take our camera and took two pictures of all four of us. She was overly nice, overly because we passed well over a hundred employees over the last 3 days and she was the only one who offered to do this and it just seemed very nice, very kind. (CHRISTIAN LOVE)

2nd- In the theme park restroom my daughter (using her electric scooter) went inside and I went to watch the scooter which carried quite a few of our belongings. Sitting on the scooter waiting for her I decided to maneuver it a bit to have it pointing towards the door. A woman walked in and with great concern asked if I needed any help. She didn't know me, I didn't know her and yet she offered her assistance to me. I politely thanked her and told her no, I was just waiting for my daughter who uses the scooter and she smiled.  There was NO REASON for that stranger to offer help to me and yet she did.  KINDNESS! (CHRISTIAN LOVE)

3rd-  Our car had the hiccups on the way home, no seriously, it had the hiccups and they kept causing the engine to stall. This is NOT conducive to moving along an interstate highway at 75mph. So we pulled off the road several times burped out car (opened the gas cap) and finally we made it off the highway to the nearest gas station- well almost. We were in the gas station entrance stalled and two people came rushing over to help us, offering to push us to the gas pumps. TWO TOTAL STRANGERS offering instant help to us! (CHRISTIAN LOVE)

Now, do I know for a fact this is Christian love? No, I don't because for all I know they could have been believers of no God at all. What I do know is they exhibited the kind of love my SAVIOR wants us as HIS followers to display. So while they might not have even known Christ as their Savior they were showing kindness to a stranger and that IS CHRISTIAN LOVE.  Does that mean they're saved even if they don't believe in Christ? No, of course not. It means that CHRISTIAN LOVE exists in a very real way and those who are displaying it are doing so naturally and our God will offer HIS love to them as to all and God alone knows whether or not they will accept HIS LOVE.

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

Have you experienced this lately?

Think about it for a little bit, go back through your day, through your week and see if you can't recall some unexpected kindnesses done to you.

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

A love that acts.
A love that gains nothing selfishly from the acts is commits.
A love that is a deliberate offering- a choice made.

We have the opportunity all the time to reveal Christian love, don't we? Yet how often do we pass up those opportunities for one reason or another? Does self get in the way of being selfless?

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

We must truly LOVE our neighbors.

I have been LOVED by my neighbors today, three notable times by four strangers.

Please God, help me to love others as you have shown me others love with YOUR love.

Thank you Lord for blessing me so richly today by letting my life be touched with such an outpouring of YOUR LOVE.

All in YOU my LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

Our liking doesn't matter, we must love

 Continuing our study on the passages from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

We're discussing CHRISTIAN LOVE. How amazing it is to have CHRISTIAN LOVE. It sounds strange even as I write it because I'm used to just saying love in the generic sense that included love being a Christian. I've found as I've studied this a bit that IT IS relevant, truly it is. At least in my estimation it's relevant because otherwise it is soooo incredibly easy to get caught up in the idea that we are supposed to equate love with feelings, with emotions.

We are very emotional people, even those who are cold hearted are emotional in their cold heartedness.  Men are equated with be less emotionally charged as women, but the truth is, men are using more somber emotions- it's not being emotionless very few people are truly emotionless and usually those who are emotionless end up as pyschopaths because we are not meant to be emotionless beings. People also confuse burying emotions with being emotionless, or controlling their emotions makes them emotionless, both are lies. The fact they have to control or bury any emotion means they have those emotions to control and bury.

Love has been called an emotion for so incredibly long that we scarcely imagine it to be anything else. If we don't FEEL a certain way that tells us something, that's what we've been taught. If we don't feel an emotional sensation of love for someone or something then it is so easy to believe we aren't loving that someone or something.

WHY would God tell us, command us, to LOVE ANOTHER if He meant feel that loving feeling towards everyone? He wouldn't! He doesn't mean LIKE everyone, He doesn't mean FEEL happy about everyone.  God is talking about an ACTION we are to portray towards others and that action is for us treat others- ALL OTHERS- in a fair way, the way YOU WANT to be treated- NOT the way you necessarily are treated.

Let's read more of the excerpt…

Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis  (EXCERPT)

'On the other hand, it is also necessary to keep a very sharp lookout for fear our liking for some one person makes us uncharitable, or even unfair, to someone else.'

When we LIKE someone we truly do have to be very careful we do NOT love that person we LIKE or even love emotionally- more than any others!

Crazy, you say? You have to LOVE those you like or love emotionally more than others it's only natural, and that's true it's of our flesh nature natural.  God would have us love ALL others and HE means with a CHRISTIAN love. 

Continuing...

'There are even cases where our liking conflicts with our charity towards the person we like. For example, a doting mother may -be tempted by natural affection to 'spoil' her child; that is, to gratify her own affectionate impulses at the expense of the child's real happiness later on. But though natural likings should normally be encouraged, it would be quite wrong to think that the way to become charitable is to sit trying to manufacture affectionate feelings.'

How true is this! In treating our own children with a SPECIAL love we are perpetuating the belief that they are MORE worthy of love than others. We are not only spoiling our children we are passing on the misconception of LOVE.

This part-- '… it would be quite wrong to think that the way to become charitable IS TO SIT TRYING to MANUFACTURE AFFECTIONATE FEELINGS.'

We really have to STOP equating love dare I say, especially CHRISTIAN love with feelings!

 Continuing…

'Some people are 'cold' by temperament; that may be a misfortune for them, but it is no more a sin than having a bad digestion is a sin; and it does not cut them out from the chance, or excuse them from the duty, of learning charity.'

'Cold by temperament'  Do you know anyone you'd consider cold by temperament? Perhaps you are cold by temperament. This is a reality and I love how C.S. Lewis says, ' IT IS NO MORE A SIN THAN HAVING A BAD DIGESTION IS A SIN.'

No one would ever say it's a sin to have heart problems, a sin to have bad sugar, a sin to be born with a weak bladder, a sin to be unhealthy beyond your control in any way. It's only a sin if you are purposely causing yourself to be unhealthy. Being cold by temperament is no more sin than being born with a seasicky stomach, and NO ONE whether with or without a cold temperament is exempt from LOVING OTHERS with CHRISTIAN LOVE.

Continuing...

'The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbour; act as if you did.'

We cannot, and truly should not waste any of our time trying to FEEL an emotional sensation towards anyone! Our LIKING DOES NOT MATTER! We MUST LOVE THEM.  And if we are going to wait to feel something emotional before we allow ourselves to show CHRISTIAN LOVE, then we are NOT obeying God's Command!

We really do need to ACT as if we love that person if that means truly showing Christian love to them. We need to treat even our enemies, and maybe especially our enemies, as if we love them very, very much. 

THIS IS CHRISTIAN LOVE.

This is how we are LOVED.

We do not deserve any LOVE from God, not a bit of it.  Yet HE LOVES us and it's not because He has this overwhelming emotion for certain people and not others. 

Jesus died to offer ALL people a chance for salvation, not just a select few.
A few will accept that salvation, but it won't be because all were not offered it.

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.


LOVE - CHRISTIAN LOVE!

More tomorrow by the GRACE of GOD!

All in HIS LOVE ALWAYS!

Praise, glory, honor and thanksgiving to our KING Jesus CHRIST!

 

Christian LOVE

'In the same way Christian Love (or Charity) for our neighbours is quite a different thing from liking or affection. We 'like' or are 'fond of some people, and not of others. It is important to understand that this natural 'liking' is neither a sin nor a virtue, any more than your likes and dislikes in food are a sin or a virtue. It is just a fact. But, of course, what we do about it is either sinful or virtuous.'

Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis

Christian love- DIFFERENT from LIKING or AFFECTION.
We 'LIKE' or are 'FOND' of SOME PEOPLE- and NOT OTHERS.

Automatically we tend to associate our feeling about someone with whether or not we are being Christian towards them. If we don't like them we instantly tell ourselves we are being uncharitable, but that's NOT the truth at all. You CAN love without LIKING someone.

I like what C.S. Lewis says next--

'It is important to understand that this natural 'liking' is neither a sin nor a virtue…'

It is NOT a sin to not like someone.
It is NOT a virtue to like someone.

If we do NOT USE CHRISTIAN LOVE towards someone we do not like then yes, it is a sin, just as it would be if we do not use CHRISTIAN LOVE towards someone we do like. We are to LOVE OTHERS this is the second great commandment and it is detailed a bit more in the last six of the ten commandments.  We are to LOVE OTHERS-  ALL OTHERS.

C.S. Lewis continues-

'It is important to understand that this natural 'liking' is neither a sin nor a virtue, any more than your likes and dislikes in food are a sin or a virtue. It is just a fact. But, of course, what we do about it is either sinful or virtuous. Natural liking or affection for people makes it easier to be 'charitable' towards them. It is, therefore, normally a duty to encourage our affections - to 'like' people as much as-we can (just as it is often our duty to encourage our liking for exercise or wholesome food) - not because this liking is itself the virtue of charity, but because it is a help to it. '

Natural liking or affection for people makes it EASIER to LOVE them with CHRISTIAN LOVE. This is so true. It is much easier to show Christian love towards someone you like, or even love as we generally love our family and our spouses. And yet, in some ways aren't we even more hurtful to those we love in that general way, at times? We lash out at them and still expect them to love us when the bad times are over. So while it is easier to be nice to someone you like or are fond of, it doesn't mean you won't show Christian love just to those, but also to those you like very, very much and have great affection for. We are to encourage 'liking' others in ourselves- simply because like C.S. Lewis says- it makes it easier. However, I have tried to encourage a liking of exercise and healthy food in myself and you know what- it really hasn't made it easier because I never really get to the place of liking those things. I might do them but it doesn't mean I like them and I probably never will 'like' them.  I also will probably never 'like' some  people but that doesn't mean I shouldn't 'LOVE them with CHRISTIAN LOVE'.

Christian love.

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

I really, really believe we NEED to make this distinction and SAY those words- CHRISTIAN LOVE.  It truly IS different than love as we know love to be.

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

Our SAVIOR said this--

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES.

ONLY with CHRISTIAN LOVE this is possible.

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Love the LORD thy GOD.
Love thy neighbor as thyself.

C.S. Lewis talked about loving as we love ourselves.
MEANING we WISH OUR OWN GOOD.  We talked about that yesterday a bit, and it's truth.
Who among us does NOT wish our own good?

We are COMMANDED to love as we love ourselves.
We are COMMANDED to love God.

We really do need to study LOVE- CHRISTIAN LOVE, CHRIST's LOVE, GOD'S LOVE.

More tomorrow by the GRACE and MERCY of OUR LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

All in HIM!

God's will is LOVE

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Today I want to start to go through the excerpted chapter from Mere Christianity-

' Charity means 'Love, in the Christian sense.

But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion.'

Love in the CHRISTIAN sense does NOT mean an emotion.  We have got so caught up in the emotion of love that we truly can't get past the emotion we associate with love. We grow up learning that if you love someone you feel something out of the ordinary. You have special emotions for those you love. We learn this and when we grow up we expect the emotions of love to be exceedingly special for those we partner with and we want those emotions to never go away. When the emotions do change we equate that with our love changing. People constantly want to know what the secret is for people married a long time and it most assuredly isn't a constant love emotion being felt for twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years. Love is so much more than emotion, Christian love - GOD'S LOVE.

'It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.

I pointed out in the chapter on Forgiveness that our love for ourselves does not mean that we like ourselves.

It means that we wish our own good.'

Not the state of feelings but of the WILL.
The state of the WILL we NATURALLY HAVE ABOUT OURSELVES.
It means that we WISH OUR OWN GOOD.

Very few people do not wish their own good. WE call those people mentally unstable in some way. To not wish your own good is truly in a very basic way wrong. I'm not saying you wish for millions, stardom, etc. A general good for yourself, a general contentment in your life, a simple but real happiness, this is what we wish for, NOT what we necessarily will have.

We wish our own good naturally and CHRISTIAN LOVE-CHARITY is wishing that SAME good for OTHERS.

We have to believe this because it is truth.

Jesus did NOT tell us to get all emotionally lovey dovey and sentimentally attached with our emotions to others. He outlined what love was in HIS word.

1Co 13:4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

LOVE- suffers long
LOVE-is kind
LOVE-envies not
LOVE-vaunts not itself
LOVE-is not puffed up
LOVE-does not behave itself unseemly
LOVE-seeks NOT her own
LOVE- is not easily provoked
LOVE-thinks no evil
LOVE- bears all things
LOVE-believes all things
LOVE-hopes all things
LOVE-endures all things

Where is the…love is feeling good? Where is the…love is feeling all giggly inside?

Love suffers- nothing about that feeling good here.
Love is kind- again nothing about feelings. You can be very, very kind without having to feel all gushy about someone, do I dare say without even generally liking them as we know what it means to like someone, wanting to spend time with them etc.
Love envies not, vaunts not, not puffed up, not behave unseemly, not seeking her own, not easily provoked, thinks no evil, bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things- again no feelings mentioned here about love being all emotional, all sentimental.

So WHY do we believe it needs to be all about our emotional state, how we are feeling? Why do we call that LOVE? Satan has done a grand job of making LOVE out to be something it's really not.

I love this- 'But love in the Christian sense does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of feelings but of the WILL.'

If only we would remember this, truly remember this.

God HELP us to remember this!

Your WILL is LOVE.
Our WILL should be LOVE- YOUR LOVE which is LOVE FOR YOU and LOVE FOR OTHERS!

You LORD are the source of LOVE. Please LORD, help us, we are so incredibly undeserving! Help us to be YOURS WHOLLY and to LOVE FULLY IN YOU, FOR YOU, BY YOU!